Linux doesn’t try to sell my elderly mother a subscription to onedrive

These days, Windows constantly gets in your way with ads, forced updates, crappy apps that install themselves, useless features like Cortana, forcing you to make a Microsoft account, etc. Linux or the BSDs, however, usually give you a bullshit-free and distraction-free experience. Plus, no spyware, completely free, endlessly customizable, and low resource usage (if you use a lightweight setup, but even “bloated” distros like Ubuntu and Mint are often light compared to Windows).

And what surprised me? I guess the only thing that surprised me is how easy the experience is, especially for things like gaming, which Linux has historically had a bad reputation for. Also, how nice it can be to use the terminal, not that you have to, especially as a novice user.

I switched back in 2005 (I think), because Windows XP didn’t have the drivers for being installed on an S-ATA drive and SUSE could be installed without any hassle. I feel very old.

I just like to hang out with you guys : )

Microsoft didn’t stop the fuckery so I had to.

There was no special reason for switching 25 years ago. A friend of mine used Debian and I tried it out. Not being a gamer must have helped because if you like playing, chances to encounter a game that only runs on Windows are quite high.

Now the reason why I never changed back. Once the system runs, which may take some rime depending on how customized you want it, it always runs the same way. I never had a slowing down due to updates. Another reason may be not having to think about viruses or malware. Never had it and most likely never will. Antivirus? They may exist for Linux but I have never used them.

In a few words. It just works.

For me it was the philosophy behind Free (as in freedom) software. Call me a Richard Stallman fan, but I would love to live in a world were everyone is free to:

• Run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
• Study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• Redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
• Distribute copies of your modified versions to others.

Learn more at fsf.org

Windows 95 was dreadful.

Yes I am old and my knees do hurt, thank you.

If something is happening, you know it does and you might have made it happen yourself.

Also, you are in full control. Use your machine (here OS specifically) however you want, and make it yours, and not a company’s (Micro$hit im talkin about you mfs).

You use what YOU want to use, and not what they want you to use (cough edge, just accept that you’re dogsh… cough, please).

Windows xp was really bad, and a little thing called Ubuntu was gaining traction. So I guess just curiosity for what else was out there.

Windows is just constantly trying to distract you from work. It’s slow, hogs resources, kills my battery.

After tinkering a lot I have found a workflow that works great for me on Linux and I couldn’t have found that with windows.

To be honest though. To switch to Linux I’d say you’d have a reason. If you don’t work a techy job and don’t plan on doing so and don’t have much interest in it, you’d just have an easier time with windows.

But let me tell you once you go into Linux with an open mind and willingness to learn, you’ll love it.

I haven’t switched. Not fully. Gaming is still far better on Windows. Yeah I have a steam deck amd the games that are supported run amazingly.

Anyway, I switched because as a software dev, Linux is such a better development enviroment. Getting a working C/C++ compiler working on windows without using VS is a huge pain, but most linux distros come with GCC preinstalled. Need to do Java? Just a command away.Rust? Ruby? Python? Same deal.

Work. Software development is so much nicer on Linux and I grew to really enjoy the power and flexibility of the terminal. I started with dual boot on my PC and eventually deleted my Windows partition and went full Linux.

Many things have substantially improved significantly in the last 10 or so years such as gaming, drivers and overall desktop user experience to the point where I dread trying to use a Windows machine. Plus I’m pretty comfy now and like that I have full control over my machine when I use Linux vs whatever spyware MS is trying to shove down people’s throats.

I’ve been dual booting Windows and Linux since the 00s. At some point around 2015-2016 I just stopped installing and maintaining Windows altogether and now I have a virtual machine image I just transfer around my network if I ever have to use Windows for something.

I think the real turning point for me was when they introduced UAC and ever-increasing restrictions on unsigned drivers starting with Vista. Wine was already a thing and I could run most games I cared about even back then although I still had to boot into Windows for gaming sometimes. Once steam Proton starting getting really good which was around 2015, there just wasn’t a reason to be using Windows anymore. As the enshittification of Windows continued getting worse it became more tedious and time consuming to get anything done in Windows to the point you might as well use Gentoo. I do programming and game modding for fun and there’s no way I could use modern Windows for this it’s so bad and slows everything down with it’s utter bullshit.

You may want to dual boot, especially if your classes are online. I’ve seen issue after issue using a Windows VM for online exams. But, for me it’d be worth asking a buddy or using the computer lab to get around an invasive OS as your daily driver.